Program

DAR Revolutionary America

Subject

Event, Site

Location

201 Mountain Ave, Westfield, NJ 07090, USA

Lat/Long

40.6559, -74.3491

Grant Recipient

NSDAR - Treasurer General,

In July 1781, the French army under the command of Lt. General Rochambeau, having marched from Providence, RI to Westchester County, NY, joined the American Continental Army commanded by General George Washington at White Plains, NY. Relations between the French and American armies would become critically important as they united and began preparations for the campaign that would lead to the decisive battle at Yorktown, VA in October 1781.

The diverse American troops included the Rhode Island Regiment consisting of African American, Indigenous, and White soldiers, as well as women camp followers*. In December 1777, the General Assembly of Rhode Island had ordered Colonel William Barton to raise a regiment in defense of the United States. It voted that “every able-bodied negro, mulatto, or Indian male slave, in this state, may enlist…to serve during…the present war with Great Britain. That every slave, so enlisting, shall be entitled to, and receive, all the bounties, wages, and encouragements, allowed by the Continental Congress, to any soldier enlisting into their service.” Upon enlistment, the soldier was to be immediately freed from their enslavement. Should they be wounded or sick and unable to continue in the armed service, they were not to be returned to servitude or enslavement. Because existing law deemed the enslaved person as property, financial compensation was offered to the owner “for loss of service.”

The need for secrecy dictated the use of farm or back roads as the New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island troops were ferried across the Hudson River on August 18 and 19, 1781. The proximity of British forces in New York City and the possibility of discovery by British forces outside the city determined the route of the allied armies as well as the need to gather supplies from as wide an area as possible. On August 28, General Washington issued orders for a march to Trenton, NJ, organizing the Continental Army into two columns. The “left column”, consisting of New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island regiments, was ordered to march from Springfield to Trenton. Thomas Graton, a waggoner with a company of Artificers, recorded in his journal leaving the encampment at Springfield and marching through Westfield, Spanktown (now Rahway,) and Brunswick.

This site in Westfield is on the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail (W3R Trail) and represents the Town of Westfield’s place in the Yorktown Campaign. The W3R Trail commemorates over 680 miles of land and water trails followed by the allied armies of General George Washington and the French Lieutenant General Comte Jean de Rochambeau during their march to Yorktown, Virginia which resulted in the surrender of British General Cornwallis in October 1781.

For more information: The Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route, In the State of New Jersey, 1781-1783: An Historical and Architectural Survey. Selig, Robert A., Ph.D., 2006.

*Women who accompanied the Continental Army served an important role in the daily operations of camp life by filling traditionally domestic tasks such as seamstresses, nurses and cooks. Wives of high-ranking officers, including Martha Washington, often accompanied their husbands at winter encampments. For more information visit: George Washington’s Mount Vernon, Camp Followers.